Japan v England: Final friendly for Fabio’s men

Betting | Paul Harper | May 29, 2010 at 9:10 am

Japan England

Live on ITV1 (Except Scotland, who can watch on Sky 993). Kick off Sunday 1.15pm

Fabio Capello’s England side will take to the field for one last time ahead of the World Cup finals as they face Japan in Graz, Austria, for a friendly international on Sunday afternoon.

After a somewhat shaky performance, albeit in victory, in their last outing at Wembley last Monday against Mexico, the Three Lions will be looking to finish their preparations on a high with a more empahtic display against a Japanese side who will also be featuring in South Africa this summer.

Once again, it is likely to be an unpredictable team selection by Capello. Those who didn’t feature on Monday evening, are likely to be given their chance in this game. And with a few places in the Italian’s final 23 man squad still up for grabs, those players on the fringes should again be fighting to be on the plane to the Rainbow Nation.

England are clear favourites to win the game at 2/7 (SkyBet, Ladbrokes, Boylesports), and they should have the players to achieve that result whoever takes to the field.

If you fancy a flutter on something with slightly larger odds than the England win, a good bet has to be Frank Lampard to score the first goal at 6/1 with Ladbrokes. The Chelsea midfielder is always likely to get forward and notch a goal and he is likely to feature after the Chelsea FA Cup winning players were rested for the Mexico clash. 6/1 has to represent excellent value for a player with as good a goalscoing record as Lampard.

As I mentioned previously, Japan have qualified for the World Cup themselves. But their recent form has been very poor. They have lost their last two matches, first a 3-0 defeat to Serbia followed by a 2-0 beating by South Korea. They will be hoping that they are saving their best for the big stage out in South Africa.

There should be a few recognisable faces in their team as well, with Shunsuke Nakamura (formerly of Celtic) and ex-Arsenal, Fulham and West Brom midfielder Junichi Inamoto likely to feature from the start. But there should be nothing to fear for England, and a comfortable victory should be the order of the day.